Another Kind Of Treasure
by The Ultimate Reviewer
Summary: Set in the movie, with a major change on many characters, both personality and physically. The new characters will change the story line considerably. Give it a go, may be the start to a possible series. Review or i'll cry.
1. Default Chapter

Warning: Elizabeth fans will not really like this one, it's a major re- write of her character.  
  
~~~~****~~~~  
  
A beautiful young girl stands at the helm of a majestic ship, sailing across a murky ocean. The girl is the eight-year-old Elizabeth Swann, daughter of the prestigious governor of Port Royal. Unfortunately the young women's heart was not as fair as her face, and it was with some malice she sang an old navy tune.  
  
"Seek them out we will When we find them we will kill Slay them all by sword or hand  
  
The dirt, violent pirate men"  
  
Hearing such hatred on the young girls tongue, Mr. Gibbs, a member of the ships crew sought out to hush the young lass.  
  
"Now Miss. Swann, ye wouldn't want to be bringing those pirates down upon us would ye?"  
  
"If they came my Daddy would kill them all. He hates pirates. Dirty commoners. Now get back to work Gibbs, your not paid for idle chatter." Elizabeth said dismissively, already far too accustomed to her lifestyle of wealth and privilege.  
  
"Don't say I didn't warn ye, lass." Gibbs muttered, wandering towards the mast and withdrawing his trusty brandy flask. "It's bad luck to have a women aboard anyway, even a miniature one."  
  
Elizabeth continued to peer over the edge of the boat into the misty fog, until a peculiar object crossed her line of vision. A white parasol flitting gracefully across the water, and the greedy girls eyes could see that it was of high quality.  
  
"Daddy! Daddy! I want that parasol! The one in the water there!" She shouted for her father and pointed at the parasol floating in the waves smashing against the hull of the ship.  
  
At her shouts the crew ran to the sides of the ship, looking into the mist like they had seen a ghost. Far off into the distance they saw a dark ship with tattered black sails gliding through the waves as if she ruled the sea. It was the Black Pearl, one of the most feared pirate ships in all the Caribbean. Among the debris floating in the water were three people. A young boy of about eight, floating unconscious on top of a wooden panel, and a mother and child in a rowboat with no oars. The mother was clearly dead, the rowboat was sticky with her blood, and it was hard to tell the state of her six-year-old daughter, who was as smeared with red as she was. A high-pitched sob revealed that she was alive and conscious.  
  
The rowboat drifted towards the peace of wood and the child showed amazing strength, hauling the boy into it. She had to stand up to do that however, and lost her footing, falling onto the wood that she had just removed the boy from. He head hit hard upon the wood, a dull 'thunk' rendering her as unconscious as the boy in the boat. Her dark hair was splayed against the wood of her 'raft', her formerly alert green eyes closing for what several in the crew feared would be the final time. For surely, a young girl cannot survive through that, not with the multiple wounds that were leaking blood onto the oak boards beneath her.  
  
Mr. Gibbs removed his hat and played it across his chest, his head bowed in memory of the brave little girl with the emerald fire in her eyes that had just sacrificed her life for another. Then, with a sad sigh, he ordered for the boy to be raised onto the ship, The Dauntless.  
  
Elizabeth ran to the boy as soon as he was placed on deck.  
  
"Why father, he doesn't seem to be of noble birth. He could have any manner of diseases. Throw him back."  
  
"Now Elizabeth. We should not judge others by their station." The elderly man sighed.  
  
He had been too soft with his daughter, and now he had come to pay the price. Her late mother, although a beauty, had poisoned his child's ears with talk of classes and wealth. Despite his many attempt to turn Elizabeth into a tolerant young lady, she resisted, and cared only for herself and others as privileged as she. The only bias that he held with her was their common hate of pirates. He wandered away to see the boy received medical attention.  
  
"Gold!" Elizabeth cried, seeing the medallion around the young mans neck, and quickly removing it for herself.  
  
She hid it in her bodice and leaned over to inspect the boy for further treasures. He suddenly stirred from his slumber, opening deep brown eyes to look into hers.  
  
"Who are you?" Elizabeth questioned imperiously, wanting to confirm her ideas that this young boy was not a worthy companion for her.  
  
"Will Turner Miss." He stuttered, collapsing back into his former state of semi-consciousness.  
  
"Will Turner. That does not sound like the name of a nobleman." Elizabeth said, determining she would not give back the gold that she was sure he must have stolen.  
  
She pulled out the medallion again and looked at it in the decreasing light. The last fading rays of the sun glinted over the gold, highlighting the strange pattern and gleaming skull of the ancient necklace.  
  
Far off into the distance the same rays of light played over the planes of another great treasure. The young girl, barely breathing, as she drifted out into the lonely sea to be battered by the waves until death took her or the sea spared her. 


	2. 2

Chapter Two  
  
Elizabeth whirled about in a great hurry, she was now eighteen years of age, and she had a feeling today would be the day that she became engaged.  
  
"Hurry Sarah, my hair must be perfect for today, or I will just die!" She exclaimed in a dramatic tone.  
  
The young Negroid maid removed the curling rags from her Mistresses hair as fast as she could.  
  
"My name is Savannah." She said quietly, thinking of the deceased mother she had been named for.  
  
"Sarah. Savannah. Frankly, I don't care. What I care about is my appearance on this day. And if it isn't perfect I will make sure you are dismissed and never find work in Port Royal again." The hard-hearted women replied.  
  
"Yes Ma'm." Savannah answered demurely, reminding herself that this was at least better than the life of slavery her father had faced before his demise.  
  
Elizabeth's own father, Governor Swann, entered the room, gasping in delight at his daughter's appearance.  
  
"Why Elizabeth, that new dress looks simply stunning on you. Captain, or should I say Commodore Norrington, will be rendered speechless when he sees you."  
  
"Thank you father, but are you sure this is the way corsets are to be worn? I can barely breath. Although, it is worth it, to look this way." She answered, admiring her reflection n the mirror.  
  
"I'm certain. Now, young Will waits downstairs with the Commodores sword. I must receive him."  
  
Elizabeth pulled a face at the mention of Will.  
  
"Should you even let him in the house? He's so. common! He's working for the blacksmiths, he'll dirty the carpets."  
  
Her father simply sighed and left the room to welcome his guest. Elizabeth turned to admire her reflection once more, then reached into a dusty drawer and withdrew a gleaming medallion. Thinking it would match the dress, she placed it around her white neck, then remembered where she had got it from and hid it beneath her bodice once more, afraid Will would recognize the gold she had stolen from him.  
  
~~~  
  
Will Turner had grown to become a handsome young man of eighteen, his skin tanned and his body fit from long hours working at the Blacksmiths. He was eternally grateful to those who had rescued him from an early death, to the point where he would sacrifice himself for them. Particularly the beautiful Miss. Swann. One part of his amazing rescue was hidden from him however, at first because they felt it would sadden him and later because it simply seemed easier to leave it out. That was the existence of his true rescuer, the child with the emerald eyes.  
  
"William? You have the sword then?" Governor Swann called as he entered the tastefully decorated sitting room.  
  
"Yes Governor, it is, if I might say, of the highest quality." He stated, presenting the sword. "The handle is embossed with the finest gold, and the strength of the steel is very great. May I?"  
  
Will removed the sword from the Governors grasp and did an impressive trick with it.  
  
"Balanced perfectly." Will said, returning the sword.  
  
"Excellent. Give your master my compliments."  
  
Will's smile faltered a little at this, but he quickly regained his composure.  
  
"Ah, Elizabeth. Here you are at last." Governor Swann said, turning to watch his daughter walk down the stairs.  
  
"Miss. Swann, you look a picture." Will said, smiling at the sight of his heroine.  
  
"Thank you William. You look very.clean."  
  
William smiled at this strange comment and said goodbye to them as they left for the Commodore Norrington's induction ceremony. The only reply he got, however, was the Governors.  
  
~~~  
  
A strange figure stands on the top of a mast of a somewhat damaged boat, staring proudly towards his destination. Port Royal. This scandalous pirate is none other than Captain Jack Sparrow, and he jumps down from his perch to scoop water from his sinking boat. After a failed attempt he sees three hanging pirates, with a warning to others of his kind. In a dramatic gesture he sweeps his tri-cornered hat from his head and pays homage to his fallen comrades. His hair is not visible, it's bound back with a red bandanna, and his eyes are fiery, outlined in black kohl. High cheekbones and pouting lips make the clean-shaven, slender figure seem rather feminine, although his size is uncertain due to his oversized dirty white shirt and black pants. He jumps back onto the mast and continues to sail towards the docks, now a comical character, as his boat sinks until he can simply step onto the pier from the top of his mast.  
  
He saunters past the harbormaster until a sharp voice calls out to him.  
  
"You, hey you! It's a shilling to tie your boat up here!" The harbormaster informs him.  
  
He looks in disbelief at his boat, only the top of the mast visible above water. With a somewhat humorous flourish he turns around to pay the harbormaster.  
  
"What ya say to three shillings, and we forget the name?" Jack asks, grinning wickedly.  
  
"Welcome to Port Royal Mr. Smith!" the elder man replies, accepting the three silver shillings.  
  
Jack swaggers off, his style of walking dramatic and feminine. He spots the harbormasters coin pouch and quickly pockets it, smiling with a flash of white teeth again.  
  
Captain Jack Sparrow made his way to the Royal Navy docks, his eyes on a ship that may help him on his mission to return to his own beloved ship. The Black Pearl. Striding right up to his goal he encounters two navy members.  
  
"Civilians cannot go this way." He is firmly told by the brunette guard.  
  
"If I see any, I'll be sure to let em know." He replied, moving as to make past the guards again.  
  
They quickly block his path.  
  
"I hear there's a big to-do on up at the manor, tell me why is it that two fine gentlemen such as yerselves did not merit an invitation?" Jack questioned, moving his hands theatrically as he always did.  
  
"Well. someone had to guard the ship." The blonde guard replied uncertainly.  
  
"If ye'll pardon me, that ship over there," Jack said, motioning towards an impressive ship at sea, "makes this one ere seem superfluous really."  
  
"Ah, The Dauntless is the power in these waters to be sure, but they're none that can match the Interceptor for speed." The dark-haired guard informed him.  
  
"I've heard of one. The Black Pearl. She's very fast, nigh un-catch able." Jack told them with another cheeky grin.  
  
'Well, no real ship can match the Interceptor for speed." The guard asserted.  
  
"The Black Pearl is a real ship. I've seen her." His comrade argued.  
  
'Oh, you've seen a ship with black sails, crewed by dammed men and captained by a man so evil that hell itself spat him back out?" The other guard asked mockingly.  
  
Jack quietly slipped off onto the Interceptor as they argued, running his hands over the wood of the ships wheel. It had been a long time since he'd had a ship under his control.  
  
"Hey, you! Get away from there!" The guard yelled as they finally noticed his disappearance.  
  
"Sorry, it's just such a pretty boat - ship." He said with another dazzling smile.  
  
"Who are you?" asked the blonde guard.  
  
"I'm Smith. Smithy, if ya like." He replied with another cocky grin, his white teeth flashing against his tanned skin and red lips.  
  
"And what is your business in Port Royal, and no lies now?" the navy man questioned, becoming aware that something was not right.  
  
"Well, if you must know, it is my intention to commandeer this ship, pick up a crew in Tortuga, then sail the Caribbean raiding, pillaging, plundering and otherwise pilfering my weasly black guts out." Jack stated a- matter-of-factly.  
  
"I said no lies!"  
  
"I don't think he is lying."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes as the guards started again.  
  
"Well if that was what he really was going to do he woulda lied to us!"  
  
"Unless, of course, he thought that you wouldn't believe the truth even if he told it to you." Jack intercepted with a knowing smile. 


	3. 3

Chapter Three  
  
The moment Elizabeth had been waiting for had finally come. Here she was, having a 'private word' with Commodore Norrington, a man that she felt was worthy of her hand in marriage.  
  
"This promotion has made me more aware of the things I have not yet achieved, such as a marriage to a fine young woman. You, Elizabeth, have become a fine young woman."  
  
Elizabeth frowned, trying to remember when she had given him permission to use her first name. After all, unless given permission, one only called those lower than themselves by their first name. She never called William Mr. Turner for that very reason. These thoughts were driven from her mind as she realized she was gasping for air. Her corset felt painfully tight.  
  
"I can't breath." She stammered, promptly fainting and falling of the edge of the battlement into the warm water far below.  
  
"Elizabeth!" the Commodore called, moving to jump after her.  
  
"The rocks! Sir, it's a miracle she missed them!" one of his sergeants said, restraining him.  
  
Instead the Commodore hurried to the docks below, searching for a sign of his beloved.  
  
~~~  
  
Jack had been watching the argument between the two guards play out for sometime when her saw a dainty lady fall with a splash into the water besides him. When she did not rise he turned to the guards standing speechless besides him.  
  
"So you'll be rescuing the lass then?" he reminded the men.  
  
"Me? I can't swim!" panicked the man.  
  
Jack began to remove his effects, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Pearl of the Royal Navy you are. Don't be losing these." He said, handing his belongings to the guards and diving gracefully in after the girl.  
  
As he sank below the water he felt a vibrating pulse flood through the water. What was that, he wondered? He grabbed the sinking girl and dragged her towards the waters surface. Finding her too heavy to keep afloat he pulled a knife from his black boots, and sliced off her dress, leaving her in her undergarments. Abandoning the soaked dress, he pulled her onto the wharf with the help of the two guards.  
  
"She's not breathing!" The guard decided.  
  
"Obviously." Jack said cynically, and removed his knife once more to slice of the girls corset.  
  
With a cough she came to, dazed and confused.  
  
"Never would have thought of that." Said the guard.  
  
"You've never been to Singapore then. Now where did you get that?" Jack said, noticing the medallion that had sent the pulse he had felt before.  
  
"You! To your feet!" said a commanding voice above Jack's ear.  
  
Slowly he rose, cursing his luck. Why did he have to play the bloody hero?  
  
"Elizabeth, are you alright?" the Governor asked, wrapping a blanket around his daughters shoulders.  
  
"Fine." She said acidly, disgusted at the disheveled state of her rescuer.  
  
"Well then, I believe thanks are in order." Said Commodore Norrington, reaching for Jacks hand.  
  
Jack hesitated, unwilling to put his hand into the Commodore's, aware that this man would not be so easily distracted like his guards. Finally, with a dramatic flourish he placed his hand into the Commodores grasp.  
  
"Aha! Had a run in with the East India Trading Company, did we?" Commodore Norrington exclaimed, pulling back Jack's sopping white sleeve to expose a white P burned into his dark flesh.  
  
Jack let out a simpering smile, wondering how he was to escape this time. A plan was already forming in his mind.  
  
The Commodore pulled back his sleeve further, this time showing a tattoo of a sparrow flying across the ocean in front of a setting sun.  
  
"Jack Sparrow!" he said with a gasp.  
  
"Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack corrected, bobbing onto the toes of his feet and back down. Why were people always forgetting the captain?  
  
"Ah. And were is your ship then Captain?" Norrington asked, his expression cynical.  
  
"I'm in the market, as it were." He replied, creating a steeple with the tips of his fingers.  
  
"That's right Sir! He said he had come to commandeer one of these ships!" The blonde guard remembered. "These are his things!"  
  
Norrington took Jack's effects from the guard, Captain Sparrow looking on nervously as he handled then.  
  
"A hat, a compass that doesn't point north, a revolver with one shot. and I half expected it to be made of wood." The Commodore said, inspecting Jack's sword. "You are by far the worst pirate I've ever heard of."  
  
"Ah, but you have heard of me." Jack replied, somewhat pleased.  
  
"Clap him in irons men."  
  
Jack stood still as they put manacles about his wrists, biding his time. Elizabeth wandered closer as soon as he was chained.  
  
"You scum." She said, slapping him across his cheek.  
  
He winced, but grinned, and with one deft move, her had Elizabeth in a strangle hold with his chains. She gasped, as did the crowd that had gathered.  
  
"Don't shoot!" Norrington demanded, wanting to protect what he hoped would be his future bride.  
  
"My effects please." Jack commanded, making the guards hand over his belongings. "Now Elizabeth."  
  
"Miss. Swann!" She interrupted.  
  
"Miss. Swann," he said mockingly, "If ya would be so kind. Come along, come along, we don't have all day."  
  
Elizabeth applied his effects with obvious contempt.  
  
"Easy on the goods luv." He said with a simpering smile at the Commodore.  
  
He was certainly not interested in this female, but it was interesting to see the outrage and jealously on the Commodore's features.  
  
"You're despicable."  
  
"Sticks and stones luv. I saved your life, ye saved mine, we're square. Gentlemen, milady, you will always remember this as the day ye nearly caught Captain Jack Sparrow." He said with a final flourish, pushing the girl back onto the navy men and using the confusion to swing from a plank and then use his chains as a flying fox to escape into the village.  
  
The Royal Navy hurried after him, rushing through the town bustle, not noticing the dark figure hiding behind the stature outside the Blacksmiths. As soon as the coast was clear, Jack fled into the building, searching for something to remove his irons with. Spotting a drunken man snoring in a chair wondered if he would be caught. He waved a hand in front of the mans face. No reaction.  
  
"Fire!" he shouted.  
  
Still no reaction. Seeing the brandy bottle in the mans hand and sensing the reason for his deep slumber, Jack wandered over to where the anvil and hammer. Now this might be the answer to his problems. After several tries, however, his hands were still firmly chained to one another. Spotting the donkey and cog, he decided an alternative approach. Burning the donkey with a red-hot poker her wrapped his chains around one of the cogs and saw with satisfaction that it broke off easily. Excellent. Hearing a sudden noise, he hid himself near the work bench. 


	4. 4

Chapter Four  
  
Will wandered back into his workshop, spotting his 'master' still sleeping in a drunken daze.  
  
"Right where I left you." He said, with a bitter smile.  
  
He quieted the donkey and moved towards the anvil and hammer.  
  
"Not where I left you." he muttered with confusion.  
  
Jack watched this with anticipation. The man was just meters from where he had foolishly left his hat. As if hearing his thought, will placed his hand upon the tri-cornered hat. The hat was swiftly snatched from his grasp by a smaller, slender hand, covered with glittering rings.  
  
He gasped, looking up to see the pirate Captain. He was, Will decided, strangely.pretty, for a pirate.  
  
"You're the one they're all looking for!"  
  
"You look familiar, have I threatened you before?" Jack asked in his slightly insane manner.  
  
"I make a point on avoiding familiarity with pirates."  
  
"Well, I'd hate to put a black mark on your record." Jack replied, heading for the door. Will grabbed a sword and moved to block his path.  
  
"Do ye really think that wise boy? To be crossing blades with a pirate?" Jack challenged, moving his sword down the length of Will's, enjoying the sound of metal on metal.  
  
"You threatened Miss. Swann."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. Why does everyone care so much about this blasted, haughty woman?  
  
"Only a little." He grinned. "Well, your good, I'll give ye that/. But how's your foot work? If I step here?"  
  
He moved, but will blocked him.  
  
"And I step again."  
  
This time Jack flicked his wrist, disarming Will.  
  
"Ta." Jack said with a roughish grin.  
  
He headed for the door once more, only to have his head missed by inches by the flying sword now pinning the door shut. Jack gave it a tug, but it did not weaken. He cursed under his breath, turning to face the determined man once more.  
  
"That was a lovely trick mate, but now you stand between me and my exit once more. And this time you have no weapon."  
  
Will grabbed a sword from the forge, it's tip red-hot. Jacks eyes widened at the formidable looking weapon. The two continued to fight through the now active Smithy.  
  
"Who makes all these?" Jack questioned, looking at the many swords.  
  
"I do! And I practice with them three hours a day!" Will replied fiercely.  
  
"You need to find yerself a girl boy. Or perhaps you have found one, and the reason you practice three hours a day is because you are incapable of wooing said strumpet. Ye're not a eunuch are ye?" Jack asked, looking down towards the boys southerly regions, trying to distract him.  
  
They continued to fight as they bantered, swords flashing in a whirl of passion.  
  
"The reason I practice three hours a day is so when I find a pirate, can kill him! Besides, you're far more likely to be an eunuch than I! You wear kohl, have no facial hair, a slender figure, pretty face, high voice and." Will let out a gasp as one of his strikes cut the bandanna from his opponents head and sliced down his shirt, exposing skin and a womanly hint of curves.  
  
Long, dark curls escaped their bonds, flowing over Jack Sparrows shoulders. He, or as was now known, she, looked horrified, but quickly re-gained her composure.  
  
Will's own eyes widened in shock as he turned from the beautiful pirate, as it was indecent to see her in even this slight state of undress. Her dark eyes, full lips and masses of rich brown hair had shown her what he had suspected but thought impossible.  
  
"You're a woman!"  
  
"Oh, you're a fast one." Jack said with sarcasm as she quickly adjusted her shirt and tucked her hair beneath her hat once more.  
  
"Are you decent?"  
  
Ignoring his gentlemanly question she spun him around to face her.  
  
"Look, if you share this little fact about me with anyone you will be killed. Savvy?" She said in a deathly tone, but adding another dazzling smile for his benefit.  
  
"I raised a sword to a woman!" Will said, still in shock.  
  
'Aye, and if ye don't let me pass boy, ye'll be run through by a woman's blade."  
  
"No. You may not pass." Will asserted, noticing that Jack no longer had her weapon.  
  
Hearing a thumping at the door, Jack raised her revolver to Will's temple.  
  
"That's cheating!"  
  
"Pirate!" Jack said, as if it were obvious. "Now let me pass. This bullet is not for ye."  
  
"I can't do that."  
  
"Please, move."  
  
"No, I cannot stand aside and let you escape." Will said, thinking of Miss. Swann.  
  
Jack released the safety catch on the revolver, but then with a sharp thunk sunk to the floor instead, unconscious. Mr. Brown, Will's 'master' stood behind her, clutching the now broken brandy bottle as the Royal Navy pushed their way into the Blacksmiths.  
  
"Congratulations Mr. Brown. You have assisted in the capture of a wanted criminal." Commodore Norrington stated.  
  
"Just doing my civic duty sir." Mr. Brown hiccupped as Will rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well, I trust this is the day that you will remember as the day Jack Sparrow almost escaped. Take him away." 


	5. 5

Chapter Five  
  
In a dank and dirty cell, lit only by a few torches, Captain Jack Sparrow sat with her hat pulled firmly over her chocolate curls, listening to the pathetic attempts of the prisoners in the next cell and hoping her identity was still a secret.  
  
"If ye keep doing that the dog is never gonna come." She calmly said, watching them try and entice the dog with the keys with an old bone.  
  
"Well excuse us if we haven't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet."  
  
She signed pulled, the hat further over her eyes and trying to get some sleep before she devised another plan for escape. For she was Captain Jack Sparrow, there was no chance she would be suffer a 'short drop and a sudden stop'. Hearing cannon fire she ran to the small barred window, searching for the cause of the annoying noise. Peering into the mist she felt a sudden jolt of recognition.  
  
"It's the Black Pearl." She said with longing.  
  
"The Black Pearl?" Her neighboring criminals asked. "I heard stories about her. She kills all, leaves no survivors."  
  
"No survivors? Then where do the stories come from I wonder?" Jack asked cynically, raising one perfect, dark eyebrow.  
  
~~~  
  
Elizabeth prepared for bed with the help of Savannah, giggling excitedly.  
  
"I'm soon to be a married woman!" she exclaimed. "Sarah, please burn those garments I wore today. They have the filth of pirate and commoners upon them."  
  
"And the medallion you wore Miss?" Savannah asked.  
  
"No.give that to me now." Elizabeth said greedily.  
  
She hung the medallion about her once more, enjoying the feeling of gold upon her skin. As she admired it in the candlelight a cool gust of wind blew out the fire.  
  
"Sarah, go fetch me some matches."  
  
"Yes Ma'm."  
  
The room felt empty in the darkness of the fog rolling in through the windows. Elizabeth sat up, wishing her father was not up at the battlements, leaving her alone in the huge house. She wandered to the windows to shut them against the cold, and saw bursts of flames in various parts of the town. On the horizon a sinister black ship swayed. Pirates! She heard a thumping at the door and ran to tell the porter not to answer it. Too late, she realized, seeing the porter fall to the floor, a bullet- wound in his head. Screaming for her life she ran upstairs.  
  
Savannah slipped quietly through the corridors, seeing what was happening, and decided it was time to take matters into her own hands. Stealing a chest of jewelry from her Mistresses dresser she ran from the house, escaping with enough riches to live the rest of her life in luxury and freedom.  
  
Elizabeth ducked into a cupboard, hoping the ghastly pirates would not see her.  
  
"We know you're here poppet." The pirate, known as Pintel, said.  
  
"Poppet" echoed his companion, Raggeti, teasingly.  
  
"You've got something that calls to us. the gold calls to us." He said with a wicked grin.  
  
"Calls to us." Raggeti repeated, wandering about the elaborately furnished room.  
  
"'Ello poppet." Pintel said, opening the door to the cupboard Elizabeth was cowered in.  
  
"Parlay!" She said hurriedly, remembering something Will had mentioned in one of their boring conversations.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Parlay! I invoke the right of parlay. According to the code of the brethren you have to take me to your captain."  
  
"I know the code." Pintel said menacingly. "If an adversary demands parlay you can do them no harm until the parlay is complete."  
  
"To blazes with the code!" Raggeti said, reaching for the girl.  
  
"She wants to be taken to the captain. And she'll go without a fuss. We must honor the code." Pintel said, restraining Raggeti.  
  
~~~  
  
Will Turner had spent another several hours practicing with his finely made swords, still amazed at what had encountered him during the day. He had met, and fought, the famous Jack Sparrow. And he had discovered her secret. She was a stunning, beautiful young woman. Unsure why, he had kept her secret, although how anyone could miss it amazed him now. Her full red lips, defined cheeks bones, smooth skin, fiery eyes and slender figure showed her for what she really was. Although she was not slender in all areas, Will thought with a blush, remembering how her baggy shirt had fallen open, showing ample cleavage.  
  
Casting such thoughts from his mind he looked out the window to gaze longingly up at Miss. Swann's home. Instead of a glowing light he found deep mist and confusion. Seizing a hatchet and sword he hurried outside to be swept up in a roar of running people, among them filthy pirates. Throwing a hatchet he quickly killed one, and the Will ran off to protect the girl he loved. Elizabeth. He encountered another pirate.  
  
'Say goodbye." The pirate said aggressively.  
  
"Goodbye." Will said as a heavy sign fell on top of the pirates head.  
  
He turned to continue the battle, only to see his fair Elizabeth being dragged onto the ship with the pirates.  
  
'Miss. Swann!" He shouted, but was quickly distracted as the same pirate who he had just killed with his hatchet walk towards him.  
  
"Outta my way scum." The pirate said, banging him on the head with the butt of his sword.  
  
The last thing a very confused Will saw before he passed out was the pirate who had just been killed by the falling sign get up and shake the wood chips off himself.  
  
~~~  
  
Jack looked wistfully at the pirates pillaging Port Royal. They had once been her family, and the Black Pearl her home. But the crew had turned against her and her mother, and cast them out to sea in a lonely rowboat with no oars - to die.  
  
Hearing a tell-tale whistle she threw herself to the side, and a cannon ball blew through the wall to the left of her. The happy prisoners in the next cell crawled to freedom.  
  
"My sympathies, friend. You've no manner of luck at all."  
  
Jack lay back down and sighed. Her hopes of escape were slowly diminishing. She picked up a nearby bone and tried to lure the dog with the keys towards her.  
  
'Come on doggy! It's just you and me now. It's just ole Jack, c'mon! That's it, good boy, good doggy. Bit closer, bit closer. Come on you filthy, slimy, mangy cad! No, no! I didn't mean it!" she said as the dog ran away with it's tail between it's legs.  
  
She sat up with a sudden start, however, when the body of a guard slid down the steps.  
  
"This ain't the armory Twigg." Said a pirate.  
  
"Well, well, well. look what we have here, Koehler. It's little Jackie Sparrow, all grown up." Twigg said with a smirk.  
  
"Last time I saw you, little Jacqueline, you were floating out to sea in a boat with your mother dying to sword wounds. Your fortunes haven't improved much." Koehler added.  
  
"Worry about your own fortunes gentlemen, for the deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers." Jack said with disgust on her tongue.  
  
"You know nothing about hell." Koehler spat, reaching through the bars and grabbing Jack by the throat.  
  
A that moment a ray of moonlight filtered through the small window, illuminating the pirate and turning his arm to a rotting skeleton.  
  
"So. There is a curse. That's interesting." Jack said calmly.  
  
The pirates left hurriedly, determined to return to their looting.  
  
"That's very interesting." said Jack, rubbing her throat.  
  
Thanks for the reviews! Although some more would be nice. Anyway, nobody  
get creeped out by Jack being a girl. I'm not saying that Johnny Depp's character in POTC the movie was female. I just loved the character so much that I wanted it to be a female pirate because then I could pretend it was me.. Lame I know. And I don't really hate Elizabeth, but she got will and I wanted Will and basically I'm a loser who's changing the movie to suit me! 


	6. 6

~~~ Chapter Six  
  
Elizabeth had finally reached the Black Pearl, and now she looked at the filthy ship with disgust. How foul. The ship stank with dirt and layers of muck.  
  
"I didn't know we were taking captives." A tall black pirate said, looking darkly down at Elizabeth.  
  
"She invoked the right of parlay, Bo 'sun" Twigg explained.  
  
"I am here to negotiate."  
  
Her words were cut off as the heavily tattooed man struck her across her face.  
  
"Ye will not speak until spoken to." Bo 'sun said.  
  
"And ye will not hurt those under the protection of parlay." A haggard looking man interjected. "My apologies Miss."  
  
"Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate my release and the cessation of hostilities towards my manor."  
  
"I'm a simple pirate lass and there were an awful lotta long words in that." Replied the captain, sensing the girl's attitude and upbringing.  
  
"I want you to let me go and leave my house alone."  
  
"Oh, nice to see ye care about the rest of yer village." Captain Barbossa said sarcastically. "Well, Miss. I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request...means no."  
  
"Very well. I'll drop it." Said Elizabeth, showing startling insight, uncommon in her character.  
  
"Our holds are bursting with swag and you think that bitta glimmer matters to us? Why?" Captain Barbossa said sneakily.  
  
"It's what you've been searching for. I recognize the ship. I saw it ten years ago on the crossing from England."  
  
This theory was not her own. Will had mentioned that he thought the pirate ship was searching for his medallion, and that he had lost it when they attacked the merchant ship he was a deckhand on. The last thing he remembered from the merchant ship was seeing a rowboat with no oars drifting towards them from far off in the distance. Where it had come from he did not know, but it looked as though it had been in the water weeks.  
  
"Did ya now?" asked Barbossa, interrupting her train of thought.  
  
"Well, I suppose if it's worthless then there's no point me in me keeping it." Elizabeth said, dropping the medallion a bit, but keeping a firm grasp on the chain.  
  
The pirates gasped and she smiled knowingly.  
  
"What's your name Miss?" Barbossa asked.  
  
'Elizabeth. Turner. I'm lady-in-waiting to the governors daughter." She lied, deciding she did not want to be held ransom.  
  
"Turner. Bootstrap Bill." A pirate muttered.  
  
"And how does a lady-in-waiting come by a trinket like that? Family heirloom perhaps?" Barbossa queried.  
  
"I didn't steal it, if that what you mean." She said scathingly, even though it was true.  
  
"Very well, hand the medallion over and we have a deal."  
  
She placed the medallion into his hand, the chain sliding down with a satisfying clink.  
  
"Still the guns and stow 'em. Signal the men, set the flags and make good to clear port." Barbossa ordered.  
  
"Wait! You have to return me to shore! According to the code." Elizabeth started.  
  
"First, your return to shore was not specified. We only had to let you go. And right now you'll see no hands holding ye. Second, you have to be a pirate for the code to apply, and that ye ain't. And third, the code's more actual guidelines than rules. So welcome to the Black Pearl Miss. Turner."  
  
~~~  
  
Will awoke with a thudding pain in the side of his head and the sudden realization that his beloved Miss. Swann had been taken by pirates. He strode up to the battlements and flung his hatchet into the nearby table, at which Commodore Norrington was sitting.  
  
"They've taken Elizabeth!"  
  
"That's Miss. Swann to you, William, and we are already aware of that."  
  
"We must retrieve her!"  
  
" We're trying, but if you have any information to the whereabouts of the Black Pearl it'd be the only we have."  
  
"Jack Sparrow talked about the ship.erm. Mentioned it really." Said the blonde guard that had been present yesterday, quickly amending his mistake at revealing he had been talking with Jack.  
  
"No- the pirates left Mr. Sparrow in his cell. They are not his ally." Norrington asserted.  
  
"We must get the Captain to lead us to the Black Pearl!" Will protested. "William, you are not a military man, or a sailor, or even a blacksmith. What can you possibly do? Do not think you are the only one who cares about Elizabeth." Norrington sneered.  
  
Will shook off his words as he stalked out the door, thinking that Elizabeth would have no interest in a pompous ass such as Commodore Norrington. If the Commodore would do nothing to rescuer Elizabeth, he would have to take matters into his own hands.  
  
Finding no guards to hinder him, Will walked down into the jail cells, spotting Captain Jack Sparrow lying on the floor, seemingly idle. When he noticed half a bone jammed into the lock of the cell he thought that perhaps Jack's mind had been on her escape.  
  
"Jack Sparrow." Will greeted her, noticing that despite the fact that her flowing curls were once again bound back under her hat she was still stunning and mysterious.  
  
"Captain Jack Sparrow. Now what ye be wanting lad? I'm trying to get some sleep after last nights events."  
  
"You know the ship, the Black Pearl?"  
  
"Aye." Jack said, sitting up.  
  
"Where does it make berth?"  
  
"Where does it make berth?" Jack repeated, incredulously. "Ye've not heard the stories? Captain Barbossa and his crew of miscreants sail from the dreaded Isle De Muerta. It's a island that cannot be found except by those that know where it is."  
  
"The ships real enough, so it's anchorage must be a real place. Where is it?" Will demanded.  
  
"Why ask me?" Jack questioned, studying her nails in a lazy fashion.  
  
"Because you're a pirate."  
  
"And you want to turn pirate yourself, is that it?" Jack asked with a slow, teasing smile, watching outrage spread across the boy's handsome features.  
  
"Never! They took Miss. Swann!"  
  
"Ah, so it is that you've found a girl." Jack said, feeling strangely disappointed. "Well, if you intend to brave all, hasten to her and so win the fair lady's heart you'll be doing it alone luv. I see no profit in it for me."  
  
"I can get you out of here." Will said, tempting the pirate.  
  
"How's that? The keys run off." Jack replied cynically.  
  
Only the bloody British would entrust a key to a flaming dog.  
  
"I helped build the cells. These are half-pin barrels..with the right application of strength they will lift free." Will explained, seeing Jacks 'so?' look.  
  
"What's your name luv?" Jack asked, seeing something familiar in the boy's eyes.  
  
"Will Turner."  
  
"That would be short for William, I'd imagine. Good, strong name. Named for ye father, no doubt?"  
  
"Yes." Will answered suspiciously.  
  
"Aha. Well than lad, ye have a deal. You spring me from this cell and I swear, on pain of death, I'll lead ye to the Black Pearl and ye bonny lass."  
  
Will lifted a nearby bench and placed it carefully into position. With a burst of strength he levered the door off it's hinges, and it fell with a resounding thunk to the ground.  
  
"Someone will have heard that, we have to leave."  
  
"Not without me effects." Jack said, grabbing her hat, compass, sword and revolver.  
  
They hurriedly left the building, sneaky through the town like criminals. Which one of them was, really. When they reached the beach Jack dragged Will under a nearby dock and pointed to a well made, not to mention heavily guarded, ship. The Interceptor.  
  
"We're going to steal a ship? That ship?" Will asked, comprehension dawning.  
  
Just what had he gotten himself into? He was running off with a notorious female pirate captain into god-knows-what to rescue.Miss. Swann. He was doing it for Elizabeth, he reminded himself.  
  
"Commandeer. We're going to commandeer a ship. Nautical term. Now lad, before we start, one question about yer business. How far are you willing to go to save yer lass?"  
  
"I'd die for her." Will said passionately.  
  
"Oh good. No worries then." Jack said cheerily.  
  
A little put out at the alluding to his demise, Will shot the Captain a dirty look. When it was returned by a cheeky grin Will found himself having difficulty staying mad at the humorous pirate.  
  
Jack bewildered the young man again however, when she seized a rowboat and threw out the oars.  
  
"De-ja-vu" Will muttered, remembering the boat that had floated near his merchant vessel before the attack of the Black Pearl.  
  
"Come along lad, haven't got all day. Well, we do really, but your lass might not." Jack said with a grin, by this time having dragged the boat so that it was half-submerged in water, but strangely, not the right way up.  
  
"I thought you were a pirate captain! The boat goes the other way." Will said, mocking Jack.  
  
"Not in this case it don't." Jack said, shooting the man an angry glance, which strangely enough made Will feel hot all over.  
  
When Will was striding across the ocean bottom, holding a boat over his head and still breathing due to the pocket of air trapped under it, he came to the conclusion that in this case Jack was right.  
  
"This is either madness or genius!" Will exclaimed.  
  
"Remarkable how often those two traits coincide." Jack replied with a roughish wink.  
  
They crawled over the sides of the Dauntless, hiding until the 'opportune moment', as Jack said.  
  
"Jack, this is not the Interceptor." Will whispered in her ear, sending little shivers down her spine as his breath touched her skin.  
  
"I have a plan boy. Trust me."  
  
Will rolled his eyes at the notion of trusting a pirate, and then smiling at the somewhat offended look gracing Jack's beautiful features.  
  
Jack jumped down from the top deck of the ship, landing with an attention- grabbing thud. Believing that this must be the 'opportune moment', Will quickly followed.  
  
"Everybody stay calm, we're just stealing your ship." Jack addressed the crew with a smile.  
  
"Aye, avast!" Will joined in, hoping he sounded like the fearsome pirates in the plays he had seen.  
  
Shooting him a mocking glance Captain Jack Sparrow turned her attention to the Royal Navy, who, at her announcement, had burst out laughing. Although Will's pathetic attempt at pirate slang could have hardly helped.  
  
"The ship cannot be crewed by two men, you won't make it out of the bay!" The navy captain chortled.  
  
Raising the tip of her blade to his throat Jack informed him what she thought would explain it all.  
  
"Son, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy?"  
  
~~~  
  
High up on the battlements Commodore Norrington was thinking of his future wife, and chatting to his future father-in-law about her rescue. His attention was quickly drawn to a boat full of Royal Navy men floating near the Dauntless.  
  
"Commodore! Commodore! They've taken control of the ship!" the faint voice from across the water called.  
  
Adjusting his telescope, the commodore spotted William and Jack onboard the ship, fiddling with ropes.  
  
"Rash Turner, very rash. He is without a doubt the worst pirate I've ever seen." Commented Norrington.  
  
Boarding the Interceptor and commanding the men to chase the barely moving Dauntless, the Commodore decided he would soon have Jack Sparrow hanging at the gallows.  
  
~~~  
  
"Here they come." Jack said, a satisfactory smile on her full lips.  
  
"Sparrow, how is this a good thing?" Will demanded, amazed at the stupidity of the so-called pirate.  
  
"Captain Sparrow lad. And ye'll just have to be trusting me. A job which, may I mention, yer not doing well." Jack said, un-fazed and ripping off the rudder chain to the ship.  
  
"Turn about!" came the voice of the disgruntled navy captain in the boat, certain that he would soon re-gain his ship.  
  
Jack pulled Will down besides her next to a pile of ropes, hiding them from the now boarding Royal Navy.  
  
"Right were we want her." Jack said, looking at the Interceptor.  
  
Will stayed silent as the Commodore gave orders to search the ship. He was filled with a strange sense of excitement.  
  
"Lets go!" Jack said, pulling him to his feet and flinging a rope into his hands.  
  
They swung across to the unguarded Interceptor, that taste of victory on their tongues. They were meters away when the Commodore finally noticed the disappearance of one of his ships.  
  
"Thank ye for getting us ready to make way Commodore, we'd have had a hard time of it ourselves." Jack said with a flourish and a grin that she knew would infuriate Norrington.  
  
"We must hurry after her!" Norrington commanded, not wanting to see a pirate escape.  
  
"Ah, sir, we can't. They've disabled the rudder chain."  
  
"That's by far the best pirate I've even seen." Commented another navy man.  
  
"So it would seem." Norrington replied grimly.  
  
Jack and Will sailed off into the broad horizon in high spirits, a cheeky smirk crossing Jack's face as she heard the smashing of the small boat she had set the Navy crew lose in.  
  
~~~ 


	7. 7

Chapter Seven  
  
"When I was a lad living in England my mother raised me by herself. My father was a merchant, and after my mothers death I came here seeking him."  
  
"Where's this going boy?" Jack asked, jealous of Will's childhood, she herself had no such happy memories.  
  
"His name was Will Turner. I'm no simpleton Jack, it was only after you learned my name that you agreed to help. Since that's what I wanted I didn't press the matter. You knew my father."  
  
"Aye, I knew 'im. I was probably one of the few that knew him as Will. The rest of the crew called him Bootstrap Bill. Good man, good pirate. You look a fair bit like 'im."  
  
"That's a lie. My father was a respectable man who followed the law. A merchant." Will said, bristling in anger.  
  
"He was a bloody pirate, a scallywag." Jack said with fond memories.  
  
"Take that back!" Will shouted, raising his sword to Jack's chest.  
  
"No qualms about raising a sword to a woman now eh? Put it away son. Ye don't want to be beaten again." Jack told him, rolling her darkly outlined eyes.  
  
"You did not beat me. You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight I would have killed you."  
  
"Well that's no incentive for me to fight fair then boy, is it?" Jack said with a cocky smile.  
  
"Stop calling me boy! I highly doubt you're older than me!" Will said with indignation.  
  
"Aye, but I'm wiser." Jack retorted, swinging the sail around in the blink of an eye so that the yard caught Will and held him out over the sea.  
  
Will struggled, frustrated as Jack looked him straight in the eye and made her speech.  
  
"As long as you're just hanging in there, pay attention. The only rules that really matter are these- what a person can do and what they can't. For instance- you can accept your father was a good man and a pirate, or ye can't. But pirate is in yer blood, and ye'll have to come to terms with that someday luv. And me for example, I can let ye drown, but I can't bring the ship into Tortuga all by my onesies, savvy? So."  
  
At this point Jack swung him back onto deck.  
  
"Can ye sail under the command of a pirate luv?" Jack questioned, looking down at the handsome young man.  
  
The sight of her above him, so powerful and fierce and free, quickened his pulse. He envied her; she was not bound as he was. One of her dark curls slipped from under her hat, waving in the wind. Reaching up on impulse he pulled her hat off, releasing her long hair. She looked puzzled at this movement.  
  
"Why'd ya do that luv?"  
  
"Just checking." He smiled softly.  
  
"Checking what?"  
  
"That it wasn't just a dream."  
  
She was silenced for a moment, the wind tugging at her hair.  
  
"Well?" she asked.  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"Will ya be sailing with me boy? Or is the famous Captain Jack Sparrow going to have to manage this ship by herself?"  
  
Will got up, dusting himself off.  
  
"I'll sail with you. But you must stop calling me boy. How old are you anyway?"  
  
She paused a moment before answering him, weighing the matter on her mind.  
  
"16."  
  
"Your only 16? I'd thought you were at least my age!." Will laughed, realizing the pirate was two years younger than him.  
  
"Well, like I said, I'm definitely wiser than ye." The disgruntled pirate replied.  
  
"Hang on. the stories about you date back for years more than 16." Will said.  
  
"Aye, I share my name with my late father." Jack replied, her face clouded with bitter memories.  
  
"How is it you knew my father than? Even I barely knew him."  
  
"Because he sailed on the ship I grew up on." Jack said, her tone growing sour.  
  
"Tell me about him. Tell me how you got onto his ship." Will said, desperate for knowledge about the father he never knew.  
  
"Nay. I'll not be dragging the past up yet." Jack said, effectively finishing the conversation.  
  
"Well at least tell me where we're headed."  
  
"Tortuga. We need to pick up a crew if we're to chase the Black Pearl."  
  
~~~  
  
Elizabeth sat on the bed in the small, stuffy cabin, full of rage. They were keeping her, the governor's daughter, in a dirty cabin, treating her with no respect. She jumped up with a start when Pintel and Raggeti entered her room.  
  
"The captain wants you to put this on. Ye'll be dining with em." Pintel demanded gruffly.  
  
"Tell him I'm disinclined to acquiesce to his request." She replied haughtily.  
  
"He said you'd say that. He also said that if ye weren't eating with him you'd be eatin' with the crew. Naked."  
  
With a snatch she grabbed the black dress, changed and made her way through the hall to the captain's private quarters, muttering obscenities as she went. When she entered the room her eyes fell upon a succulent roast pig, bowls of fruit and huge dishes of bread. Perhaps they were aware of her position after all; they had prepared her a feast complimentary of her noble birth. She began to eat daintily, not noticing that the captain himself ate nothing.  
  
"There's no need to stand on ceremony, nor call to impress anyone. Ye must be hungry." He finally said, watching her eat with interest.  
  
"No need to impress anyone indeed. Certainly not filthy pirates." Elizabeth replied scathingly, digging into the food using her fingers now, and eating greedily.  
  
"Try the wine." Barbossa said, passing her a goblet. "And the apples, one of those next."  
  
"It's poisoned!" She said suspiciously.  
  
"There would be no sense in killing ye, Miss Turner."  
  
"Then release me! You have your trinket; you have no further value for me."  
  
"Ye have no idea what this is, do ye?" Barbossa asked, taking out the medallion and strolling over to the pet monkey in the corner of the room.  
  
"It's a pirate medallion." Elizabeth replied, as if that were obvious.  
  
"This is Aztec gold." Barbossa began in a chilling tone. "One of 882 identical pieces they delivered in a stone chest to Cortez himself. Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wrecked upon them with his armies. But the greed of Cortez was insatiable, so the heathen gods placed upon the chest a terrible curse. Any mortal that remove but a piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity."  
  
"I hardly believe in ghost stories anymore, Captain Barbossa." Elizabeth replied in a sardonic tone.  
  
"Aye, that's exactly what I thought when we were first told the tale. Buried on an island that cannot be found except for those who know where it is. Find it, we did. There be the chest, and inside it be the gold, and we took them all. Spent and traded them all, frittered them away on food and drink and pleasurable company. The more we gave them away the more we realized - the drink would not satisfy, the food turned to ash in our mouths, and all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust. Compelled by greed we were, and now consumed by it. We are cursed men Miss. Turner. There is one way we can end our curse, all the scattered pieces of the Aztec gold must be found and the blood repaid. Thanks to ye we have the final piece."  
  
"And the blood to be repaid?" Elizabeth asked, despite her resolution not to be drawn into the story.  
  
"That's why there's no sense to be killing you.yet." Barbossa replied menacingly.  
  
"I won't sit here and listen to this nonsense a moment longer!" Elizabeth answered indignantly.  
  
She stormed out onto deck only to see the crew replaced by working, moving, jeering skeletons. She screamed with horror, her blood pounding in her ears as she looked into the bustle of bones and rags, talking and working like ordinary men.  
  
"The moonlight shows us for what we really are!" Barbossa declared. "We are not among the living and so cannot die, yet we are not dead! For too long I've had a thirst I'm unable to quench. Too long I've been starving and not yet died. I feel nothing, not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh."  
  
Barbossa strode out of the cabin doorway, his monkey following him. Both turned to still rotting corpses in the pale moonlight.  
  
"Ye best start believing in ghost stories Miss. Turner. You're in one!"  
  
Taking a bottle of wine he drank, the red liquid pouring out through his ribs and onto the deck of the ship. Enjoying seeing Elizabeth run into the cabin, away from the horror, he burst into a deathly laugh. His crew joined him, white jawbones leering manically in the moonlight.  
  
"What ye all think ye're doing? Get back to work!"  
  
~~~  
  
"It's a sad man that ain't never breathed the sweet bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy? What do ye think lad?" Jack said on their arrival in the infamous pirate port.  
  
Staring at the whores, drunks and bottles that littered the streets of the port, will decided that perhaps the man who had never been here was a lucky one.  
  
"It'll linger." He replied.  
  
A blonde-haired woman strode right up to Jack and slapped her.  
  
"I didn't deserve that." She muttered to will.  
  
"That was for causing all my customers to fall in love with you!" the whore said.  
  
"Listen darling, I'm no whore, I ain't never made eyes at any man, let alone one of those rats you associate yerself with." Jack replied, looking outraged at the idea that she could have been mistaken for a whore.  
  
"I never said you sleep with any of them. But these men don't want ladies now, they want pirate captains! They want you because they can't have ye! You're ruining business for everyone."  
  
"It's not my fault they love me darling. Maybe you're just not good enough." Jack sneered.  
  
The whore stalked off in an angry rage, upset at her words.  
  
"The men love you?" Will asked incredulously.  
  
"Can't see why mate." Jack said, sounding for once less than arrogant.  
  
"I can." Will whispered, but Jack had already moved on, wandering towards a pig sty in the corner of the street.  
  
It was easy to see the men would love the pirate, especially dressed as she was now, in somewhat tighter breeches than those he had first seen her, her off-white shirt a better fit than before and her long, dark hair hanging free to her waist until she found another bandanna. Jack interrupted his train of thought, probably a good thing too, Will decided, when she threw a bucket of water over a sleeping figure in the outskirts of the pig run.  
  
"Curse ye for breathing, ya slack-jawed idiot! Mother's love! It's Jacqueline!" the man cried, sitting up and realizing who had caused his rude awakening. "Don't you know it's bad luck to wake a man when he's sleepin'?"  
  
"Ah, fortunately I know how to counter it Gibbs. The woman who did the waking buys the man who was asleep a drink. The man who was asleep drinks it while listening to a proposition from the woman who did the waking." Jack said, speaking in riddles.  
  
"Aye, that'll do it." Gibbs agreed, cheering up at the mention of drink.  
  
Will spotted another bucket of water and threw it over the sopping man, deciding it was time he took part in the action.  
  
"Blast! I'm awake!"  
  
"That was for the smell." Will stated a matter-of-factly, a cheeky grin crossing his handsome features.  
  
Jack grinned back at him, amazed at the young mans change of spirits. Something in her grin made her heart ache, for the life she had years ago and for.. Something she could not, did not want to name.  
  
They made their way to a tavern, Jack and Gibbs sliding into a booth while Will kept a 'sharp eye out', as instructed.  
  
"Now, what's the nature of this venture of yours?" Gibbs asked, settling down with his ale.  
  
"I'm going after the Black Pearl." Jack said, ignoring Gibbs who had just chocked on his drink. "I know where it's going to be and I'm going to take it."  
  
"Jack, it's a fool's errand. Why, ye know better than me the tales of the Black Pearl."  
  
"Which is why I know what Barbossa's up to. all I need is a crew."  
  
"From what I hear of Barbossa he's not a man to tolerate fools, let alone strike a deal with one."  
  
"Then I say it's a good thing I'm not a fool then, aye?"  
  
"Prove me wrong mate. What makes you think Barbossa's gonna give u this ship of his?"  
  
"Let's just say it's a matter of leverage, aye?" Jack said, nodding at Will, who was positioned a few meters away, out of earshot.  
  
Or so Jack thought. After several attempts at subtly motioning at Will, Gibbs caught on.  
  
"The kid?"  
  
Strange, though Jack, that they should think of Will as a child when Jack herself was two years younger than him.  
  
"That is the only child of Bootstrap Bill Turner, savvy?"  
  
"Is he now? Leverage says you, I feel a change in the wind says I. I'll find us a crew. There's bound to be some sailors on this rock as crazy as you."  
  
"One can only hope. Take what you can." She said, toasting Gibbs.  
  
"Give nothing back!" He finished, as they slammed down their cups with a thud.  
  
Will sighed, turning away from the two pirates. Unknown to them, he'd heard every word of their little agreement. He felt disappointed. That was all he was. Leverage. Here he had been, acting like a fool, beginning to care for the beautiful woman. Possibly even falling for her. Well, that's what you got for trusting a pirate, he reminded himself. Especially Jack Sparrow.  
  
~~~ 


	8. 8

Chapter Eight  
  
"Feast your eyes on them Captain. Every man here worth his salt. And crazy to boot." Gibbs announced, presenting a long line of scruffy looking men.  
  
"So this is your able bodied crew?" Will whispered into Jack's ear, his tone mocking.  
  
Ever since he found out that he was mere 'leverage' he had taken to taunting the pirate, showing her the coldness he felt she deserved. Her reaction to this was somewhat baffling. She did not smile so quickly, and for this he felt a tug on his heart. But he must not get seduced by manipulative pirates if he was to rescue his beloved Elizabeth. No matter how beautiful they were, or fast their voice made his heart beat.  
  
"You, sailor!" Jack asked a pirate with a parrot, determined to prove Will wrong.  
  
"Cotton, sir." Mr. Gibbs informed her.  
  
"Mr. Cotton! Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face danger? Cotton? Answer me man!" Jack demanded, growing impatient at the mans silence.  
  
"He's a mute sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out." Gibbs said.  
  
Cotton poked out his broken tongue out at this point, and Jack replied by poking hers out in return, and then pulling a face and shuddering at the thought of losing her own. Despite himself Will found himself smiling at the pirates usual humorous, theatrical antics.  
  
"So he's trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's figured how." Gibbs finished.  
  
"Mr. Cotton's parrot! Same question!" Jack asked, trying to keep a straight face despite the ridiculousness of the situation.  
  
"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" the parrot screeched.  
  
"Mostly, we figure, that means yes." Gibbs interpreted.  
  
"Of course it does!" Jack said, grinning at Will.  
  
"Well, you've proved their crazy." Will answered, raising his eyebrows.  
  
"And what's the benefit for us?" a female voice came from down the end of the line.  
  
Jack quickly strode to the owner, pulling off her floppy black hat. In return for this action the dark-skinned sailor quickly slapped her.  
  
"And I suppose you didn't deserve that either?" Will asked.  
  
"No, that I deserved."  
  
"You stole my ship!" the enraged girl yelled.  
  
"Borrowed! Borrowed without permission!" Jack argued.  
  
This earned her another sharp slap.  
  
"I had every intention of bringing it back to ya, Ana-Maria!"  
  
"But you didn't!" Ana-Maria replied fiercely, pointing an accusing finger.  
  
"You'll get another one." Jack tried to calm her down.  
  
"A better one. That one." Will said, pointing at the Interceptor.  
  
"What? That one? That one! What says you?" Jack asked Ana-Maria.  
  
"Aye!"  
  
"Friends again Ana?" Jack asked with a deploring look.  
  
"Oh.aye. But don't you be stealing my ship again." Ana-Maria replied, weakening.  
  
"Couldn't help it luv. I'm a pirate." She said with a cheeky grin, leading Will and the crew onto the waiting ship.  
  
When, hours later, Will found Jack at the wheel, navigating with a compass that didn't point north, he began to doubt the pirate's sanity.  
  
"Gibbs. you do realize that compass doesn't point north?" He asked, out of earshot of the fierce captain.  
  
"Good thing we're not trying to find north than."  
  
"How is it Jack came by that compass?"  
  
"Lad, I'm not sure if our lady captain will be wanting me to share her past with ye. No, 'tis better to forget the days when here father was captain of the Black Pearl."  
  
"What? She didn't mention that." Will said in quiet shock.  
  
"Well, she keeps things close to her heart now. A hard lesson that was. I'll tell ye the story of the mighty Jack Sparrow, past and present. Now Jacqueline's father was a good man, and bloody good pirate. He had built the Pearl himself, it was his dream ship. The crew was made up of what he thought were friends, but the only true friend among 'em was yer father, Bootstrap Bill. Anyway, by the time the Black Pearl was famous throughout the sea's, Jack Sparrow had found himself a lass. Isabella, she was called, and a fairer lady you've never seen. 'Cept maybe her daughter there. Anyway, Isabella and Jack were in love, and they soon married and had a child, not something common among pirates even now. Many were jealous of the captain and his blessed life, and his first mate, Barbossa, led them into mutinying. How the good captain had come by the compass leading them to the Aztec treasure is unknown, but he was forced to surrender the co- ordinates of the treasure to save his wife and daughter, Jacqueline. They shot him, sending him down to the darkness of the deep sea, but not before he slipped Jacqueline the compass. The betraying pirates then cast her and her mother, now dying from sword-wounds inflicted by the pirates, into a rowboat with no oars. Now Will, when a pirate is marooned at sea, they're give a pistol with a single shot. No good for hunting or signally, aye, but three weeks later, when starvation is curled like a wolf in your gut, that gun is looking mighty tempting. But little Jackie, even at six, would not just give up. She was washed up on a deserted island, her dear mamma already dead and long claimed by the sea. And there she went mad with grief."  
  
"So that's the reason for the." Will did an impression of Jack's seemingly drunken antics.  
  
"Reason's got nothin' to do with it. Anyway, Jack managed to escape the island by standing out in the sea and roping a couple of sea turtles together, making them paddle her back to civilization. But the revolver she's kept ever since, and that one shot she'll not use on any man, save one. Barbossa."  
  
"She roped a couple of sea-turtles together?" Will asked, sensing a flaw in the haunting tale.  
  
"Aye."  
  
"What did she use for rope?"  
  
"Hair. Human hair." Jack interrupted. "Now drop the anchor! Young Mr. Turner and I are going ashore."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"We're outta supplies Will."  
  
"And why are you taking me?"  
  
"Because if I leave ya alone, Ana- Maria will have her way with ya."  
  
"I will not!" protested a disgruntled Ana.  
  
Grinning at that, Will followed the captain down the docks to a rowdy port. He was feeling better towards her, after hearing the tragic story of her childhood.  
  
"Why did you really want me to come? Don't you trust me?"  
  
"That, among other reasons. Like ye really need to get some new clothes and have a bath, no offence luv."  
  
Looking at his appearance, Will was inclined to agree with her.  
  
"Well, you're no better! With that constant black kohl smeared around your eyes!"  
  
Although Will had to admit, he liked the alluring affect it had on her features.  
  
"At least I don't stink." She retorted with a grin.  
  
That was sadly true enough. But before he could come up with a satisfactory reply, he felt a small hand at his pocket and turned to see a young pick- pocket run off with his watch. His mother's watch.  
  
"Stop thief!" He shouted, trying to chase after the child.  
  
He soon gave up when the pick-pocket disappeared into the crowd.  
  
"Don't be down lad, we'll get ye another watch." Jack said, sensing his disappointment.  
  
"Not like that. It was all I have left of my mother."  
  
Casting him a knowing look, then a happy smile, Jack grabbed his arm and dragged him through the streets until they were standing outside a flashy tavern. Definitely more classy than those he'd seen in Tortuga, the tavern was decorated with posters claiming an amazing show every night.  
  
"Why are we here?"  
  
"Only one man in this port is criminal enough to deal with pick-pockets. Jonathan Deacon, owner of 'Magnifico'. And it just so happens I know him."  
  
They entered 'Magnifico', surrounded by red furnishings and ornate carvings.  
  
"John! John!"  
  
"What ya be wanting? Jackie???" A tall, handsome man asked.  
  
There was something in his manner that will did not like, the man looked conniving and sleazy. He wanted to rip Jack out of his slimy reach.  
  
"Aye John. I know that you've just come by a watch and I'd very much like it back." She addressed him.  
  
"How'd ya know that? The famous Jack Sparrow been pick-pocketed?"  
  
"Captain Jack Sparrow. Nay, 'twas Will." She said, nodding at him.  
  
"Well now captain, I'll be wanting a pretty price for this fine piece." John said, pulling the watch from his pocket.  
  
"Money's not an issue."  
  
"It's not money I'll be wanting. You owe me Jack."  
  
"I'll not do that."  
  
"Then I'll not return the watch."  
  
"Jack, can I speak to you a moment?" Will suddenly asked, breaking up what he was sure would turn into a brawl at any moment.  
  
"Aye." Jack replied, leading him into a corner. "Now what ye be wanting?"  
  
"What does he want you to do?"  
  
"I'm not tellin'" she replied, looking down, seemingly ashamed.  
  
The great Captain Sparrow? Ashamed? Will could not believe it. What could the cocky captain have possibly done to bring the blush to her tanned cheeks that he was seeing now. Comprehension dawning he placed his finger- tips under her chin and lifter her head up to look him in the face. She still kept her eyes stubbornly down, although his touch was doing strange, pleasant things to her skin.  
  
"Jack. were you.did you.have to sell your body?"  
  
Her reaction was aggressive, she slapped him hard across the face.  
  
"Never!"  
  
"Well I just couldn't figure out what else would cause you to blush!" Will retorted, holding his stinging cheek.  
  
Who knew the girl possessed so much strength?  
  
"I am not blushing!"  
  
"Yes you are!"  
  
"No, I'm not!"  
  
"Yes, ye are. Right there." Will replied, touching the soft, smooth plane of her cheeks.  
  
She was silenced immediately, her eyes half-shut as he caressed her cheek. She felt the heat rising in her face even more, her skin tingling at his touch. Suddenly she realized what he had said.  
  
"You said 'ye'."  
  
"So I did." he mused, finally removing his hand from her cheek regretfully.  
  
He was being sucked in, he could tell. He had to remember his love, Elizabeth. But her name did not bring with it the usual surge of joy.  
  
"What did he want you to do then?" Will asked, returning to their previous conversation.  
  
"To sing.for the evening crowd." She admitted reluctantly.  
  
He let out a burst of laughter.  
  
"Is that all? Do it then."  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It's. embarrassing. I'd have to wear a dress. And sing. a love song." She looked disgusted at the thought.  
  
"Oh, and big, bad pirates don't do those things?" he mocked her.  
  
"Sure don't." she grinned.  
  
"Well, this one is going to have to." Will informed her.  
  
"No!" "Jacqueline, when we embarked on this quest to save Miss. Swann, you gave me your word you would do anything to help me find her. Now I'm asking you to do this. For her."  
  
"Oh, using my full name. That's intimating. But I'll not do it for that sour bitch." She scowled.  
  
"Don't call her that!" Will replied, furious.  
  
"Why? It's true. What do you see in her?"  
  
"She saved me when I was younger. The ship I was a deckhand on, a merchant ship, was attacked by none-other than the Black Pearl. I was set adrift on a panel of oak boards. She saw me in the ocean and got the men to pull me onto her ship, the Interceptor. I would have died had it not been for her kindness."  
  
As he finished his story he saw Jack's green eyes light up with recognition.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing. I'll do it, but not for ye woman. I'll do it for your mother, yer father spoke well of her."  
  
"Thank you." He told her, genuinely grateful.  
  
What he didn't know was that she was doing it for him.  
  
"John. Ye have yerself a deal."  
  
~~~ 


End file.
